For packaging paper goods forming a stack into boxes in batches of a certain size, apparatuses are used, in which the goods to be packaged are transferred by a conveyor as a continuous stack from the manufacturing process into a separation zone to be further divided into stack portions which will be moved into packaging boxes for the respective goods. Such an apparatus is known from Finnish Patent No. 87438 and also from U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,775. The principle in the solution according to the Finnish patent is the fact that the stack portion to be packaged is pushed directly from the separation zone into a packaging box with at least one open wall.
The stack portion is pushed into the packaging box by a transfer device comprising a rail placed transversely to the direction of travel of the goods stacks after the separation zone, and a movable pusher supported to the rail. The pusher is arranged to move in a perpendicular direction across the travel path of the stack, and its one end extends in the direction of the stack to a point where a stack portion to be packaged has been separated by separator elements included in the apparatus. By means of the pusher, the stack portion is pushed into a box situated at the same height and having an open wall on the side of the stack portion. The empty box is placed into the filling station manually or by machine. The most problematic disadvantage of this solution is that when the stack portion is pushed into the open box, the pusher cannot penetrate into the box but only to the edges of its open wall. Consequently, the solution performs poorly in a case when two or more stack portions are to be placed into the box, one after the other. To pack the paper goods in a sufficiently dense state into the packaging box, it is pressed by moving backwards a stack support supporting the stack in front of the same. Further, guides placed partly inside the box must be used for guiding the dense stack.